scared to do exercise

[r9c]

Hi all,last week was the first time i had a mild exercise,well a simple friendly basketball game among my colleagues,before the game started i was already feeling nervous..am sure my heart rate was near 100.when i start to play and did a few sprinting runs in the court,my heart just beat very fast and hard,i felt light headed,chest discomfort and a shortness of breathe {well it could be due to i have not been fit enough i guess},so around 15 mins of play i stopped as i fear that my body just couldnt take the high heart rate and dizziness.Since then i was just so afraid of doing exercise like i used to a year ago before i had my 1st panic attack which landed me at the ER after that i just felt i havent got the energy to exercise again,i used to be a very fit footballer back then but stopped playing after my 1st panic attack which left me with daily palpitations,lightheaded and shortness of breathe and as a result did two times ecg stress test at a cardiology department,the 1st one i lasted for around 5mins which i stopped as i just felt out of breathe but i achieved the target heart rate and no ecg changes were found and blood pressure response were great so cardiologist said no problem with that.I was wondering is it just me being nervous while doing exercise that my heart rate would hit very high,as i know its normal for everyone heart to jump up when doing execise but i am just scared that i might just have some abnormal rhythm during exercising...and should go back to the cardiologist about this ?

[MichelleP_3811]

I am sorry to hear you aren't feeling well and are still dealing with the pvcs.  Unfortunately ablations for pvcs are met with mixed results.  The ablation may work initially but there is a high reoccurance rate.  I wish I could tell you it is wise to go and have another ablation but you could really just be chasing your tail forever trying to get a handle on the problem.  But I do know how having around 15,000 a day can feel very troubling and make you feel down right sick.  I have had them though they only lasted a week at that rate.  But what I found is I had some unresolved/addressed stomach problems that once cleared up alleviated a lot of the pvcs.  Before I had the bad week I was having a crazy amount of intestinal gas.  Everything I tried didn't work.  I then got so sick with the pvcs I couldn't eat for a couple of days.  I had a banana and granola and some water was all and to my surprise the pvcs settled down and my gas was just about gone.  It is now more at a more normal level. I still get the pvcs but they seem to mostly come on after I eat so there is definitely a stomach component irritating the vagus nerve which sends signals to the heart causing it to act up component to the whole thing so if you have any digestion issues at all do your best to address them and see if that helps.  The other big trigger is stress and anxiety.  If you have a lot of stress in your life definitely do what you need to do to get it under control.  This can have a very big impact on your heart irregularities.  

So those are some things to try to see if it helps but I do think you should at least go back to your cardiologist for a check up.  I wouldn't necessarily rush into an ablation but it would probably be wise to get a heart check up just to make sure there isn't some sort of heart health issue causing your pvcs to act up again.  If you get the all clear that your heart is structurally fine then do your best to find out if there are some triggers you can manage to help alleviate your symptoms.  Best of luck.   I do hope you feel better soon.  Keep us posted on how you are doing.

[Beth19691993]

Hi All, I am a 42 year old woman, I have had a cardiac ablation for PVC's. I was having 11 a min when i went into surgery. The surgery was in 2008. I am now having them again?? I am on atenlol 50 mg per day. I am wondering if i should go to the doc, and try for another ablation? It effects my daily life and makes me sad and scared. I am so tired of it! Why cant i just be normal? Help!

[r9c]

Thanks for the info again,yes last 3 weeks when i had an appointment with my neurologist for the dizziness,she took my sitting down BP which was 110/70 normal i guess but when she performed the standing BP..my bp drops to 90/70 and she mentioned the constant lightheaded could be the low BP of 90/70.She dint prescribe any medications but did ask me to drink more fluids and increase slight salt intake.while an appointment with the endocrinologist my sitting bp was 110/60 and standing was 112/70 normal i guess,the endo said its not a low bp problem but before this my usual BP is around 120/70-130/80 just recently i noticed my bp was a bit lower than usual where range from 110/60 to lowest 90/70 and at 90/70 that was the worst light headed feeling i ever had where near syncope but never fainted as i just felt my heart beats very fast then i felt a bit much better i guess thats the reason why i had sinus tachycardia when i felt like i am about to fall over,its just my heart work extra hard to increase my BP so i wont pass out.Things a bit complicated as my GP dosent thinks its a low bp problem and the neurologist said it is,the cardiologist said its normal as my 24 holter shows lowest HR = 51 while i was sleeping i guess thats why the cardio dosent seem concerned but highest was at 150..sinus tachycardia.

[Jerry_NJ]

You didn't mention your blood pressure, but it must be reasonable if your doctor(s) didn't mention anything.  It is easy to check, most Pharmacies (e.g., Walmart), have a public self service BP test machine.  My experience with those machines are they are accurate enough to let give you any needed warnings.   A BP in the low range, such as 80/40 would be very suspect in my mind.  one in the range 100/60 could be a problem for some and something in the 120/80 is moving into the upper healthy range.

[r9c]

yeah,i know exercise is good for the body the only thing is my heart rate just goes up very quickly with a mild walk even which bring makes those lightheaded,palpitations and shortness of breathe worse,shortness of breathe thing could be due to unfit body but the light headed is just so scary when you feel so dizzy and about to pass out but never thanks god for that.ECG stress test came back normal even i could last for 5 mins on the threadmill as on the 3rd minute the threadmill just went very fast as if you feel like you running up the stairs.I think i will just with a mild walk which i try today but stopped after a few mins as those symptoms are just unbearable,plan to see a doctor again but i am sure he will says i am fine after looking back at the medical file record of all those stress test result etc..furthermore i am only 25 so i think the problem should be a heart rhythm related but its just when u got those symptoms its just so hard to believe nothing is wrong.Plan to get back to my GP but for sure he will says it might be anxiety causing those symptoms but it seems like he and the cardiologist arent so sure if anxiety are causing those symptoms too,sigh.

[Jerry_NJ]

Exercise is good for all of us, the question is the intensity and the duration.  You could ask you doctor, or just start real slow...say walking a 3 mph (American units) for 15 minutes.  If that's too hard slow down a bit and keep it up until it isn't "too" hard, then increase the time... and later increase the speed.  If you are in reasonable physical shape and under 70, I'd say you should be able to work your way up to an hour at 4 mph, then you can think about jogging if you like the idea.

Of course strength/resistance "training" is also a good exercise, again doing what you can, not starting out by trying to beat you past best.